Chapter 3
Daniel spoke like we were two businessmen meeting over lunch.
Nothing about him matched Ethan’s terror.
That frightened me more than if he had walked in shouting.
He adjusted one cuff.
“I apologize for all the confusion.”
Ethan’s fingers tightened around my shirt.
“Don’t let him take me.”
I placed one hand over the boy’s.
Daniel noticed.
His smile thinned.
Rachel stepped between us.
“Mr. Blake, you were instructed to wait until we contacted you.”
“I was concerned about my nephew.”
“You were still instructed to wait.”
“Of course.”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“Your mother would be heartbroken to see you running from people trying to help you.”
Ethan buried his face against my back.
I stared at Daniel.
“Stop talking to him.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Daniel looked at the officers as though I had just proven something.
“This is exactly what I was afraid of.”
“What?”
“A stranger inserting himself into a grieving child’s life.”
“Stranger?”
I pulled Emily’s photograph from my pocket.
Daniel’s eyes flicked toward it.
For one second, his calm expression cracked.
Only for one second.
Then it returned.
“You found the photograph.”
“No. Ethan brought it.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“My sister was sentimental.”
“Your sister?”
“Yes.”
“You’re Emily’s brother?”
“Older brother.”
Emily had told me she had no family.
She said both of her parents were dead.
She never mentioned a brother.
Not once.
I stared at him.
“She never told me about you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Why?”
Daniel gave a sad little smile.
“Emily had problems.”
Ethan suddenly shouted.
“She did not!”
Daniel’s gaze hardened.
Then softened immediately when Rachel looked at him.
“Ethan, your mother loved you. But she struggled.”
“With what?” I asked.
Daniel sighed.
“Paranoia. Emotional instability. She often believed people were against her.”
“You’re lying!”
Ethan tried to move around me.
I held him gently.
Daniel shook his head.
“This is what she taught him. Fear. Suspicion.”
I looked at Rachel.
“Has anyone verified what he’s saying?”
She didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Daniel continued.
“My sister cut off our entire family years ago. We tried to help her. She refused.”
“Where were you while she was dying in a trailer?”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t know where she was.”
“Apparently you found Ethan pretty quickly after she died.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Mr. Carter, accusations aren’t going to help.”
“Then help me understand why a six-year-old is terrified of this man.”
Daniel spoke before she could.
“Because Emily taught him to be.”
Ethan tugged my shirt.
“Michael.”
I crouched.
“What?”
“There’s something else.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Ethan.”
The boy flinched.
I stood immediately.
“I told you not to speak to him.”
One police officer stepped closer.
“Everybody stay calm.”
Ethan whispered, “My backpack.”
“What backpack?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
Daniel’s face went completely still.
I noticed.
So did Rachel.
I looked toward Luis.
“Can you go with Officer Harris?”
The older officer nodded.
“Show us.”
Ethan refused to release my hand.
We all went outside except Daniel, who Rachel instructed to remain inside with the younger officer.
Behind the diner, near the dumpster, Ethan crawled underneath an old wooden pallet.
He pulled out a filthy blue backpack.
The zipper was broken.
One strap was missing.
He hugged it against his chest.
“My mommy told me not to lose it.”
Rachel crouched.
“What’s inside?”
Ethan looked at me first.
I nodded.
“You can show us.”
He opened the bag.
Inside were two shirts.
A toothbrush.
A small stuffed dinosaur.
A sealed envelope.
And a flash drive.
Rachel reached toward the envelope.
Ethan pulled it away.
“No.”
“It’s okay.”
“No. Mommy said Michael gets it.”
Rachel looked at me.
I held out my hand.
Ethan gave me the envelope.
My name was written across the front.
MICHAEL CARTER.
Same handwriting.
My fingers shook.
“Can I open it?”
Ethan nodded.
I tore the edge carefully.
Inside were four handwritten pages.
The first sentence nearly knocked the air from my lungs.
Michael,
If Ethan reaches you, then I failed to survive long enough to tell you everything myself.
I stopped.
Rachel watched me.
“What does it say?”
“It’s private.”
“If it concerns the child—”
“It was written to me.”
She didn’t push.
I continued reading.
I never left you because I stopped loving you.
Daniel found me.
I looked toward the diner windows.
Daniel stood inside watching us.
My skin crawled.
The letter continued.
He told me he knew about you, your diner plans, your mother, everything. He said if I stayed with you, he would destroy your life.
I had no idea how he knew so much.
Then he showed me photographs of you leaving work.
Pictures of your apartment.
Pictures of your mother’s house.
My hand started trembling harder.
Emily wrote that Daniel had controlled her family since she was a teenager.
Their father had owned a successful logistics company.
When he died, Emily inherited nearly half.
Daniel wanted all of it.
He manipulated her.
Threatened her.
Tracked her.
And when she tried to leave, he made sure she understood what he could do to people she loved.
I read faster.
After I discovered I was pregnant, I wanted to come back to you. Daniel found out. He told me if Ethan was yours, he would make sure you never saw him and would use every connection he had to bury you financially.
I believed him.
That was my greatest mistake.
I wiped my eyes.
The final paragraph was worse.
Daniel does not want Ethan because he loves him.
Dad’s trust transfers the remaining family shares to my child when he turns seven.
Until then, Ethan’s legal guardian controls the voting rights.
Michael, he turns seven in six weeks.
My head snapped up.
Rachel’s face had gone pale.
“What is it?”
I handed her the page.
She read silently.
Then she looked toward the diner.
Daniel had moved away from the window.
The officer beside us cursed under his breath.
“What’s on the flash drive?” Rachel asked.
Ethan hugged the backpack.
“I don’t know.”
I looked at him.
“Did your mom tell you?”
“She said it was proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“She just said proof.”
Rachel stood.
“We need to secure this.”
The older officer nodded.
“I’ll call my supervisor.”
I suddenly realized something.
“Where is Daniel?”
We looked toward the diner.
Through the window, I could see the younger officer near the register.
Alone.
The front door swung open.
The officer rushed outside.
“He went through the restroom exit.”
“What restroom exit?”
Luis muttered a curse.
“The service door.”
We moved toward the parking lot.
A black SUV tore out onto the road.
Daniel was gone.
Rachel immediately called someone.
Ethan looked terrified.
“He’s going to come back.”
I crouched again.
“Listen to me.”
His eyes met mine.
“You’re not alone anymore.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then he whispered, “Promise?”
I wanted to say yes.
I wanted to promise him that Daniel would never touch him.
That no one would ever hurt him again.
But I had known this child for less than an hour.
I didn’t even know yet whether I was truly his father.
So I gave him the only promise I knew I could keep.
“I promise I won’t stop trying to protect you.”
He nodded.
Rachel ended her call.
“We’re going to need to take Ethan somewhere secure tonight.”
He grabbed my arm.
“No!”
Rachel continued calmly.
“We can request an emergency placement modification, but I cannot simply leave him here.”
“Then let me apply.”
“For emergency kinship placement?”
“Yes.”
“You haven’t established paternity.”
“Then test me.”
Rachel studied me.
“You understand this could become complicated.”
I almost laughed.
Complicated?
The woman I had loved was dead.
A six-year-old boy who might be my son had crossed God knew how many miles hungry and barefoot to find me.
Her brother had apparently been terrorizing her for years.
And somewhere inside a cheap plastic flash drive might be the reason she had spent seven years hiding.
“Complicated started a long time ago.”
Rachel nodded.
“I’ll make some calls.”
She took two steps away.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
“Monroe.”
Her expression changed.
“When?”
She looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
“Are you certain?”
She ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
Rachel slowly lowered her phone.
“The foster couple Ethan ran from just reported a break-in.”
My stomach tightened.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No.”
“What was taken?”
She hesitated.
“Nothing.”
I looked at the backpack.
“Then why break in?”
Rachel had already reached the same conclusion.
“They weren’t looking for money.”
Ethan began shaking again.
May you like
I looked at the flash drive in his hand.
“They were looking for that.”
